The Blood Bank of Delmarva issues an urgent call for donations for the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Blood collections are trending 38% lower than what is needed to meet local hospital demand.
And Blood Bank of Delmarva communications specialist Tony Prado says they’re looking for two particular types of blood.
"O-negative is particularly dire. I looked at the inventory this morning, and it was at 0.9 days, that's abysmal. You'd like to have a 5 to 7-day supply of all blood types,” said Prado. “B-negative was a little better at 3 days, but that's why we needed to issue an urgent call for donors with the 4th of July critical time period coming up."
This time of year, blood donations suffer because of school breaks, vacations and busy summer schedules.
Because of that schools, businesses, religious groups and community organizations are being called on to host blood drives this summer.
This year the decline is worse, and the summer is known as “trauma season” because injuries and accidents rise with more daylight and outdoor activities.
Prado says they’re offering donors an incentive to encourage donations.
"To encourage blood donations during this critical time, we're offering people a little bit of incentive. We can either give them a branded T-shirt, a beautiful T-shirt that says, 'I give where I live,' and a very handsome T-shirt or you can get a packable backpack. That's going to be at all donor centers," said Prado.
Prado notes while they take walk-ins, you’re asked to make an appointment online at delmarvablood.org or call 1-888-8-BLOOD-8.
